Heart Attack Claims KJ Holiday

May 27, 2014 at 4:27 AM (PT)

ALL ACCESS first brought you the sad news SUNDAY (NET NEWS 5/25) that CCM+E Dir./Urban Programming for WJLB & WMXD/DETROIT KJ HOLIDAY passed away over the MEMORIAL DAY weekend of an apparent heart attack. No more details are available at this time, including funeral services.

SVP/Urban Programming DOC WYNTER told ALL ACCESS, "KJ was my dude; I worked with him longer than any other member of our Urban team. We began working together in NORFOLK in the early 2000s and then through his years in DETROIT at WJLB and WMXD. I loved that he was a nice guy. When we promoted him to DETROIT, someone once suggested to me that he would not succeed because he was too nice of a guy.

"He eclipsed everyone's expectations, but not mine. I believed that his kindness was what made people want to work hard for him. He always backed his people; he would frequently call me to recommend members of his staff for added responsibilities. When I would visit him in DETROIT, he would insist on picking me up from the airport and we would usually talk about radio and relationships on the ride to the radio station. We would work until it was time to eat and then we would go get our favorite steak from a local entertainment venue. KJ would pay for dinner because that's the kind of guy he was.

"I once fought to get him a significant raise to keep another company from stealing him. When we went in to get the raise, I had previously negotiated with his market manager. He asked for only a portion of it because he didn't want to make more money than his local boss. I shook my head when the words came out of his mouth in the meeting, but I couldn't be upset with him for long because he was being KJ. Finally a good guy won! We will miss him dearly at CLEAR CHANNEL."

CCM+E VP/Programming TONY TRAVATTO told ALL ACCESS, "KJ was a great programmer. He made WJLB and WMXD legendary stations. Anybody who knows KJ knows he's an even better person. We are really going to miss him."